Art of Melody Music / Burning Minds Music Groups [Release date 10.04.26]
Now here’s a thing. Melodic rock that’s not from Scandinavia! Spain’s Xtasy formed in 2011 and have been building a following in their home country and in Continental Europe. But, wait, Swedish melodic maestro Erik Martensson(Eclipse) is credited as a co-writer so we are not totally out of the woods. He also mixed and mastered the album.
Whatever, their fourth studio album ‘Phoenix’ is driven by the fiery vocals of Silvia Idoate and the guitaring of Jorge Olloqui and Carles Salse.
This is evident on ‘Good Enough’ and ‘Carry On’: Plenty of good choruses and shredding as if Grunge never happened in the 1990s when it put paid to errant hair metallers. ‘If I Fall’ and ‘Time We Won’t Forgot’ are the strongest tracks although the latter re-purposes Queensryche-esque stylings.
Phil Berisford reviewed the band’s debut in 2014 for GRTR! and wrote “To my ears most of the songs suffer from similar problems – the vocals are not clear in the mix and also heavily accented, the drumming is very basic and the songs are just not good enough.” Evidently even Martensson – also involved in the production – couldn’t sprinkle enough fairy dust. Berisford confined the album to his attic.
Things have moved on but I have to be honest – a decade or so later – there’s nothing here that you haven’t heard before in this genre, indeed it could almost be melodic hard rock by numbers. I mean how familiar does ‘No One Like You’ sound from intro to chorus? The album is also too same-paced throughout.
But, it is executed with some panache and deserves a positive audience, especially from those who bemoan the passing of the mullet. ***1/2
Review by David Randall
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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Power Plays w/c 13 April 2026
DOGMA Fate Unblinds (MNRK Heavy)
SEVENDUST Threshold (Napalm Records)
OH HIROSHIMA Broken Sunlight (Pelagic Records)
HARSH Back To Life (Fireflash Records)
KING KRAKEN Call To War (indie)
HIGHWAY QUEEN Bring Me Home Tonight (indie)
Featured Albums w/c 13 April 2026
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)
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